Sporting Kansas City will take on the Colorado Rapids this Wednesday at 9 p.m. CT before Saturday's placement match against an opponent to be determined. The Wednesday game will be the club's third Desert Diamond Cup appearance of the 2016 preseason, presented by Children's Mercy, and will take place at 9 p.m. CT at the Kino North Stadium in Tucson, Arizona. A live stream of the game will be available at SportingKC.com. Updates will also be posted in real time on Twitter @SKCgameday and SportingKC.com/gameon.
Sporting KC played its previous two Desert Diamond Cup matches to a draw, with a 2-2 tie against Columbus Crew SC on Feb. 17 and a 1-1 tie against the New England Revolution on Feb. 20.
Sporting KC's Saturday night game featured a goal by midfielder Graham Zusi in the 11th minute to give the team an early lead, but was later answered with a 58th-minute equalizer from New England's Teal Bunbury. The match saw action from two of the team's recent offseason additions — defender and international Nuno André Coelho and forward and homegrown Daniel Salloi. Find a full game recap here.
The Colorado Rapids have yet to win in their Desert Diamond Cup campaign, with a 3-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City's USL affiliate, the Swope Park Rangers, and a 0-0 draw against Houston Dynamo. The Rapids have seen numerous roster changes since the end of its 2015 campaign, in which the team sat squarely at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
Sporting KC and the Rapids also went head to head in last year's preseason tournament, tying 2-2. The teams met again in June, where Sporting KC downed the Rapids 2-0 before meeting two more times, with Kansas City falling to the Rocky Mountain team on both occasions.
Sporting KC will begin its 2016 regular season campaign on the road with its March 6 match against Seattle Sounders.
